Poll: 35 per cent of Ontarians want NDP leader Horwath to quit

Whitby-Oshawa MPP Elliott early favourite to lead PC party

Andrea Horwath visits

Ron Pietroniro / Metroland file photo

AJAX -- A recent poll suggests one-third of Ontarians believe provincial New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath should step down in light of last month's election defeat. Here, she was on the campaign trail with Ajax-Pickering riding NDP candidate Jermaine King at a campaign stop in Ajax.

TORONTO -- One-third of Ontarians think NDP Leader Andrea Horwath should resign in the wake of her recent provincial election defeat, a new poll has found.

Ms. Horwath -- for years the most popular political leader at Queen's Park, according to public opinion surveys -- has watched her approval ratings slide since Premier Kathleen Wynne took office in February 2013.

A new Forum Research poll suggests that trend is continuing after Ms. Wynne led the Liberals to a majority victory in the June 12 vote with the NDP remaining mired in third place behind the Progressive Conservatives.

Forum found 35 per cent believe Ms. Horwath, who triggered the election by announcing her party would no longer prop up the minority Grits, should step down as leader, while 43 per cent felt she should stay on and 21 per cent had no opinion.

"She's got a lot of rebuilding to do in terms of her personal image now, " Forum president Lorne Bozinoff said.

The NDP chief faces a mandatory review in November and is under a lot of pressure to meet the traditional threshold of two-thirds' support to avoid a challenge to her leadership.

"I really think she did some damage to herself among her own supporters, " said Mr. Bozinoff, noting Ms. Horwath's rejection of the minority Liberals' left-leaning budget on May 1 hurt the NDP in Toronto.

"They got nothing out of it. They don't have any more seats than they had going into the election and they lost control of everything, " the pollster said, referring to the NDP's loss of the balance of power in a minority legislature.

"She took a real hit with the whole election thing and not supporting the budget. It just didn't go well and I think she really did alienate some of her own supporters, the progressives, " Mr. Bozinoff said, pointing to Liberal wins in NDP-held Trinity-Spadina, Davenport and Beaches-East York.

"We know they lost those three ridings in Toronto. You cannot lose those types of ridings and not have something serious going on in your party."

Using interactive voice-response phone calls, Forum surveyed 810 people across Ontario on Thursday. Results are considered accurate to within three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

In terms of personal approval, Ms. Horwath has dropped to 28 per cent compared to 41 per cent for Ms. Wynne. Last August, Forum found the NDP leader at 50 per cent and the Liberal premier at 36 per cent.

Tory leader Tim Hudak was at 24 per cent in that Aug, 29 survey, but because he quit after the election, respondents were not asked their opinion of him Thursday.

PC officials met Saturday to discuss the timing of a leadership race.

Forum found Christine Elliott, the lone declared candidate, is the early favourite to win.

The Whitby-Oshawa MPP, who finished third in the 2009 leadership contest won by Mr. Hudak, was at 25 per cent among the 287 Tory supporters polled.